Although Shen Yingying looked down on Xie Fangzhu’s behavior, she quickly came to terms with it.
Given the outrageous things the original host had done, even if Xie Fangzhu had locked her up at home, no one would have said he was wrong.
But he didn’t. He only had someone keep an indirect eye on her, which was already giving her plenty of face.
So she reluctantly decided to treat Chen Qingqing as someone sent to keep her company.
But soon, her reluctance turned into genuine appreciation.
Chen Qingqing was shy, reserved, and quiet, with one leg crippled, but she was incredibly diligent and warm-hearted.
Seeing Shen Yingying cleaning the original host’s messy room, she rolled up her sleeves without a word and started helping.
The original host hated cleaning and had a hoarding habit—unwilling to throw anything away, she piled everything in the room.
The level of filth and clutter was such that Shen Yingying would have needed at least a full day to clean it alone. But with the efficient help of Chen Qingqing, they finished in just one morning.
The garbage they cleared out piled up into a small hill outside the door—all sorts of things, from food to household items, and even half a dustpan of rat droppings.
Shen Yingying was stunned. In all her life, she had never seen so many rat droppings.
She had originally thought the room was just messy, but she hadn’t realized it was this bad.
Thinking about how she had slept in such a room for half the night, she wondered if, besides the snake, rats might have also crawled up to share the bed with her.
At that thought, her stomach churned.
She immediately went back inside, opened the wardrobe, and stuffed all the clothes she regularly wore into Xie Fangzhu’s wardrobe next door.
Even though the room was now clean, she had developed a psychological aversion and simply couldn’t sleep there anymore.
After removing the clothes, the original host’s wardrobe was still full.
But what remained weren’t clothes—they were brand-new fabrics.
The original host’s third brother, Shen Jiacai, was getting married in three months.
His fiancée was the daughter of the neighboring production team’s captain, a very beautiful girl.
The bride price she demanded was absurdly high. Besides the “three rounds and one sound” typically required for a city girl’s wedding, she also wanted a television set.
The Shen family relied solely on their work points to survive throughout the year—how could they afford such an extravagant bride price?
So they set their sights on the original host, demanding that she prepare the bride price for her third brother.
The original host was a classic “brother-obsessed fool.” She saw nothing wrong with this and believed it was her duty to help her brother get married.
This was also why, before eloping, she hadn’t forgotten to swindle Xie Fangzhu out of 500 yuan.
She intended to use the money to help cover her brother’s bride price, planning to send it back once she reached S City.
The fabrics piled high in the wardrobe, some thick and some thin, were the result of the original host using up all the fabric coupons Xie Fangzhu received from the mine for the entire year, plus buying additional coupons on the black market.
In total, there was enough fabric for seven sets of clothes—five for the bride and two for the groom—covering all four seasons.
The original host knew how to operate a sewing machine and make clothes, so the wedding outfits were also her responsibility.
Before transmigrating into the book, Shen Yingying had been a fashion designer working at her adoptive parents’ company. Making clothes was a trivial matter for her.
But as for this…
She slammed the wardrobe shut. She wasn’t the brother-obsessed fool the original host had been. Whether Shen Jiacai could get married or not had nothing to do with her.
If she had the spare time, she’d rather make a few outfits for herself—that would be far more practical.
As for the rest of the bride price, she wouldn’t even entertain the thought.
…Today, Xie Fangzhu came up from the mine earlier than usual, surfacing before five o’clock.
Han Wei followed closely behind him, thinking to himself how eager his brother was to get off work today.
Normally, he would linger down there for ten or twenty minutes before coming up, but today he left right on time.
After surfacing, the two of them first went to the Lamp Room to return their mining lamps.
The Lamp Room had four windows, each responsible for different numbered tags.
Xie Fangzhu and Han Wei’s tags were both handled by Window 1, which was still manned by that dawdling female worker.
This female worker’s older sister, Zhou Ronghua, also worked in the Lamp Room and was the mistress of the Lamp Room captain.
The Lamp Room captain had connections in the coal mine’s disciplinary committee. Any complaints from workers about the Lamp Room would eventually make their way back to the captain, who would decide whether to punish or protect the person involved.
Naturally, the mistress’s younger sister had to be protected.
So, just like her sister, she acted with impunity in the Lamp Room, working at a sluggish pace, and the speed at which she collected lamps depended entirely on her mood.
If she was in a good mood, she worked faster; if she was in a bad mood, she worked slower.
Today, she was clearly in a bad mood. The speed at which she collected lamps was as if she were moving in slow motion. While the other windows had already processed three or four lamps, she had only managed one at her window.
The workers lined up at Window 1 were furious but didn’t dare speak up.
Given this ancestor’s temperament, if anyone dared complain about her slowness, she would gladly show them what true slowness looked like.
Xie Fangzhu was second in line. Watching as the other windows finished processing three lamps, the lamp in front of him still hadn’t been collected.
He was growing increasingly impatient. Although he had asked Jiaozi and Chen Qingqing to keep an eye on Shen Yingying, one was just a kid and the other a timid girl. He wasn’t sure if they could actually keep her in check.
If she ran away, he didn’t know if he could catch up…
His eyes darkened, and his brows furrowed. Impatiently, he snapped at the window, “Are you trying to coax a flower out of it? Hurry up! If you can’t work efficiently, what are you doing at the window?!”
Han Wei: “!!!”
His brother was usually only harsh with him; with others, he was always good-tempered.
Even if the female worker collecting the mining lamps was slow, no matter how impatient others were, his brother never lost his cool.
What was wrong with him today? Was he possessed? Had he swallowed gunpowder?
The miners behind Han Wei felt a chill run down their spines.
What was wrong with Fangzhu today? Why was he picking a fight with that ancestor?
This was a disaster. Given that ancestor’s temperament, she would definitely slow down even more now.
Sure enough, the female worker at Window 1 was furious and retorted sarcastically, “So what if I’m slow? I’ll be even slower later! If you have the guts, hit me!”
But she was immediately shut down: “You think I wouldn’t dare?”
The female worker at Window 1 felt a pang of fear and looked at the person who had spoken.
The man’s face was covered in coal dust, revealing only his eyes, but his imposing height made him instantly recognizable.
It was Xie Fangzhu.
His eyes were dark and gloomy, terrifyingly intense.
The female worker couldn’t help but recall his actions in the cafeteria that morning and his legendary confrontation with people from the neighboring village years ago.
Although this man was usually easygoing, when he truly lost his temper, it seemed like he was capable of anything.
Ultimately, she was someone who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Her attitude changed in an instant, and her speed more than doubled.
After collecting Xie Fangzhu’s lamp, she didn’t bother inspecting it carefully. After a cursory check, she handed him his lamp tag and said with a forced smile, “Sorry for being slow!”
Han Wei: “???”
The miners behind Han Wei: “!!!”
Xie Fangzhu didn’t even glance at her. He took the lamp tag and walked out.With his turn over, the speed of the female worker at Window 1 picked up, and the line at Window 1 moved faster as well.
By the time Han Wei had returned his lamp, Xie Fangzhu had already left the Lamp Room. Han Wei hurried to catch up.
He wondered what was up with his brother today—why was he in such a rush? Could something have happened?
Before he could ask, he noticed the miners ahead growing unusually excited, their gazes all turning toward the row of poplar trees not far from the Lamp Room.
Some even seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move.
Han Wei knew they were all looking at the women under the poplar trees.
The women under that row of poplars were all newlywed wives, so eager to be with their husbands that they couldn’t bear to be apart for long.
Thus, even before their husbands had surfaced from the mine, they waited eagerly under the trees.
The mining area had far more men than women, making women a rare sight here.
Whether unmarried or married, men couldn’t help but steal glances at them.
But today’s commotion was especially exaggerated—had a particularly beautiful young wife arrived?
Han Wei instinctively followed their gaze, and when he spotted one of the figures under the poplar trees, his eyes widened in shock.
He nudged Xie Fangzhu repeatedly with his elbow. “Brother, brother! Look! It’s… it’s Sister-in-law!”